What is the first step in administering a formal Notice under the contract?

Correct! Have a conversation before you send any sort of written contractual correspondence. Building and maintaining productive relationships with your client is a key objective in successful contract administration. It is reasonably simple to understand contractual entitlements but selling them as a win-win scenario makes all the difference.

As a Project Manager that is at home in both worlds (client-side and contractor-side), I know first hand that many contractors do not realise how their perceived contractual behaviour influences their future prospects with the very same client. The hesitation to enter a potential confrontational relationship based on past experience may result in your business missing out on a project without ever getting the true feedback about it. This shall not mean to not claim and stand-up for what you are entitled for. It’s all about the strategy to get there.

You can’t influence the ‘tone of voice’ in written correspondence, therefore step one in the process of successful contract administration is to pick up the phone and talk to your client before following up with written correspondence. My contract administration training modules not only focuses on the mechanisms under the contract, practical ways of implementing them as well as relevant case law but also on how to build and maintain relationships along the way.